1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for evaluating brain images obtained by functional magnetic resonance imaging and in particular to simulation of brain activity using neuronal network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thanks to rapid developments in the area of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fMRI for short, or functional Magnetic Resonance Tomography, fMRT for short, increasing success has been achieved in recording the distribution of brain activity of patients during the resolution of complex perception and planning tasks and of motor tasks.
The enormous possibilities of this technology are still however at odds with their current benefits for investigation and diagnosis in neurology and neurosurgery.
The main reason for this discrepancy lies in the complexity of the brain. The human brain cortex alone can be divided up into around 200 functional units, the brain areas, between which there are around 10,000 backwards coupled, dense networking paths. The networking paths each consist of a number of synaptic connections, that is nerve bundles.
As a result of this complex structure as well as the distributed parallel signal processing in the brain, malfunctions can only very rarely by read off clearly from the change of activity in the fMRI image—in a area—for example. Disturbances to the cerebral functions manifest themselves as a rule rather as a change, compared to healthy people, in the interaction between the areas, which in its turn modifies the activity status of the entire brain in a complex manner.
This presents the doctor with the extremely serious and thus far, except for a few special cases, unresolved problem of determining from the measured complex striking features in the fMRI image the actual cause of the cerebral disturbance.